Note 547 — Chapter XLI · DECISION OF THE UMPIRES. A.H. XXXVII. A.D. 658.

We do not hear more of Abu Mûsa, who, however, survived to A.H. 52, or, as others say, to A.H. 42. Some of his grandsons held judicial office.

Many of the angry speeches at Dûma by the chief men, who were bewildered at the strange dénouement, have been preserved. These are some of them. The son of Omar: ‘See what a pass Islam hath come to! Its great concern committed to two men; one who knoweth not right from wrong, the other a nincompoop.’ Abu Bekr’s son: ‘Would that Abu Mûsa had died before this affair; it had been better for him.’ Abu Mûsa himself is represented as abusing Amru in the language of the Corân: ‘His likeness is as the likeness of a dog; if thou drive him away, he putteth forth his tongue; and if thou leave him alone, still he putteth forth his tongue.’ (Sura vii. 77.) ‘And thou,’ retorted Amru, ‘art like the donkey laden with books, and none the wiser for it.’ (Sura vi. 25.) Shureih, commander of the Kûfa escort, flew at Amru, and they belaboured each other with their whips, till they were separated by the people. Shureih exclaimed that he only wished he had used his sword instead. But the tales are mostly of the Abbasside type, and we cannot implicitly receive them.